Web Accessibility John Rochford Rich Caloggero E.K. Shriver Center, UMass Medical School Director, INDEX Program Worldwide Web Consortium Rich Caloggero WGBH National Center for Accessible Media MIT Adaptive Technology Information Center

Introductions Names Backgrounds Experiences related to people with disabilities using the Web (or PCs, Macs, mobile devices)

Simple Definition Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. Source: World Wide Web Consortium Web accessibility applies to design & content.

Importance provides equal access and opportunity helps people participate in society is required by laws and policies benefits people without disabilities Source: World Wide Web Consortium

Making the Web Accessible Assistive tech compatibility: screen readers, single-switch devices, text-to-speech, etc. Web software has to be accessible: browsers; media players; development tools; content and learning management systems.

Making Your Website Accessible Easy and low cost if done from beginning. Fixing later requires significant effort and costs. Source: World Wide Web Consortium

Evaluating Website Accessibility Automated evaluation tools can catch 20% of common Web or app accessibility problems. Tenon, WAVE, etc. People with disabilities must test a Web site or app to determine it is actually accessible.

How To Check Websites Is there alternative (alt) text for images? Are there content headings? Is the content (tab) order logical? Use a free, Web-based tool to check Tenon, WAVE, etc.

U.S. Laws Section 504, Rehab Act of 1973. Section 508 of Rehab Act, amended in 1998, requires all electronic and information technologies be accessible.  21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA)

Standards U.S. Federal Section508.gov (2000) Synced to world standards 2017-01-12 World Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 (2018-06-05)

Using the Web How do people with disabilities use the web… without a keyboard? without a mouse? without speakers? without a monitor? Screen Reader Demos Job Access With Speech (JAWS) and/or Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA)

Accessible Content Almost all accessible Websites focus on design. Many pay no attention to semantic markup: headings, lists, bold-versus-strong, etc. Examples of what they do not use: plain language multi-modal presentation default large print (& responsive design)

Cognitive Web Accessibility Clinical Cognitive Disabilities learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, TBI, ASD, Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, Depression, aging, etc. Functional Cognitive Disabilities cannot understand non-simple, textual content are easily distracted are flummoxed by inconsistent interfaces do not recover easily from errors

AI and Web Accessibility Research and development in AI-driven Web text simplification on a mass scale. Benefits people with cognitive disabilities, the aging, non-native language speakers, people with low literacy, and ultimately everyone. AI must not inherit biases related to disability, but also related to every minority population.

Cognitive Accessibility Resources W3C Cognitive Accessibility Task Force Clear Helper Web Site Web AIM Articles Cognitive Web Accessibility Checklist

Summary Web accessibility means design and content. Web accessibility can be easy & low cost. Making Websites accessible makes them easy to use for everyone.